Gardening 2022

[snapping turtle]

My runway lights and ac/dc tape in the jam box is working.
twice it has went off both times around 4 am.
no deer tracks and no more eaten plants.

update on the cherry tomatoes are at waist height and starting to fruit.
onions looking healthy peppers are strong. Cucumber well they are alive.

 

[Expat]

My conibear caught ground hog #4 for the year yesterday.

 

[spencer rifle]

Brassicas doing well, tomatoes flowering, some potatoes thriving, lettuce is very good, too hot for the peas, onions OK, corn past knee-high. Planted more corn and beans and tomatoes. Melons and cucumbers gong slowly. Okra not thriving (YES!).

We tried putting little white plastic butterflies on the brassicas to discourage cabbage whites. Apparently if they see one already there they go elsewhere. Working so far.

We made sautéed greens out of our weeds - lamb's quarters, wood sorrel, purslane. Since we are eating them they will now stop growing and fade away.

 

[Magyars]

Our garden is doing very well, this year...
I have an electric wire set about 4 to 5 inches up, it keeps all the ground critters out

 

[hooky]

You guys are too nice. I use a generic RK conabear with a couple pecans hot melt glued to it.

Learned the hard way that curious pets will find a conibear. Not a pleasant conversation with the neighbor when fluffy is stiff as a board.

 

[Pepi]

My garden isn't liking the city water very well

 

[Expat]

Learned the hard way that curious pets will find a conibear. Not a pleasant conversation with the neighbor when fluffy is stiff as a board.

They aren't catch and release traps

 

[hooky]

They aren't catch and release traps

LOL, yes. Can confirm.

 

[CheeseRat]

Hey all, just ran across this post... I still have to go back and read it all. Built new raised beds this year, wife's "kitchen garden", doing real well. First time trying raised beds and Hugelkultur. Main garden doing pretty good, I could have helped that soil out more before start... Put in a few more fruit trees and a whole lot of nut trees planted this year.

 

[CheeseRat]

My garden isn't liking the city water very well

That stinks, any room for rain barrels?

Your post made me think about my gardens and I realized, I have one spigot using softened water for one area, and one with straight well. Now I'm curious on how that'll go. Softened one is in beds so better soil etc., So a little unfair now... I'm may have to Google what is supposed to be better

 

[Pepi]

That stinks, any room for rain barrels?

Your post made me think about my gardens and I realized, I have one spigot using softened water for one area, and one with straight well. Now I'm curious on how that'll go. Softened one is in beds so better soil etc., So a little unfair now... I'm may have to Google what is supposed to be better

Yeah, but with my L4 and L5 problems I'm not going into that LOL

 

[spencer rifle]

We tried drip irrigation with our well water. Worked good for a year or two until all the emitters clogged up with calcium and iron. Eventually gave up and went back to sprinkling.

 

[Magyars]

Couple pictures of the garden from today....corn is already close to 4ft. Beets are doing well.

Strawberries are mostly played out, we harvested 7 gallons.

Onions are getting dug up and cured in the sun about a dozen at a time.

 

[Pepi]

HE||, my beets never even came up this year? Just a bad luck year for me I guess LOL

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

We tried drip irrigation with our well water. Worked good for a year or two until all the emitters clogged up with calcium and iron. Eventually gave up and went back to sprinkling.

I had the same problem with our well water, with all the drip lines and emitters clogging with iron. One year I tried burying a soaker hose a couple of inches in the ground next to my two rows of half-runner beans, and being under the soil, the iron in the well water didn't oxidize nearly as much. After I set up my rain water tanks, I only use the well water when I run out of rain water.

I've got a total of about 400 gallons of rain water storage, and I'll be putting the last of it on the garden tomorrow. Hope it rains. I'm thinking about ordering a 550 gallon plastic tank thru TSC today

 

[hooky]

I had the same problem with our well water, with all the drip lines and emitters clogging with iron. One year I tried burying a soaker hose a couple of inches in the ground next to my two rows of half-runner beans, and being under the soil, the iron in the well water didn't oxidize nearly as much. After I set up my rain water tanks, I only use the well water when I run out of rain water.

I've got a total of about 400 gallons of rain water storage, and I'll be putting the last of it on the garden tomorrow. Hope it rains. I'm thinking about ordering a 550 gallon plastic tank thru TSC today

How big is your garden and long did it take for you to run through 400 gallons of water?

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

How big is your garden and long did it take for you to run through 400 gallons of water?

I have ten raised beds that are 4' X 20' and are made with 2"X6"s. Actually, after looking again, I probably have just over 100 gallons of rain water now. When I water, I just dip it out with watering cans and carry those to the beds. It's labor intensive and I know I probably use a lot more water than I need to some times. I try to soak things good and wait a week before I water that bed again. It's been a couple of weeks since the last good rain, and right now, a lot of my plants are at a stage where I like to keep them watered well.

 

[hooky]

I have ten raised beds that are 4' X 20' and are made with 2"X6"s. Actually, after looking again, I probably have just over 100 gallons of rain water now. When I water, I just dip it out with watering cans and carry those to the beds. It's labor intensive and I know I probably use a lot more water than I need to some times. I try to soak things good and wait a week before I water that bed again. It's been a couple of weeks since the last good rain, and right now, a lot of my plants are at a stage where I like to keep them watered well.

Thanks. We've been mulling over a rain collection system and I was curious how far a couple of 50 gallon barrels would go.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Thanks. We've been mulling over a rain collection system and I was curious how far a couple of 50 gallon barrels would go.

I had started collecting rain water quite a few years ago, when I scored a used 200 gallon fiberglass tank made to fit in the bed of a pickup. I've added several 55-gallon plastic drums since then.

With my 400 gallons, I almost always run out of rain water for varying periods of time during dry periods. Last year was really rare in that I didn't run out at all. Since I've expanded the number of beds, with plans for more, I'm finally going to get the big tank that I've wanted for years but kept talking myself out of.

 

[wcd]

Any one resorting to mulching? This year I was going to try to just weed, but it appears, everything is growing in our garden area, wanted or not. So I may just use a rotted round bale and smother all the unwanted plants.